


Fashion Central

by DawnWave



Category: Miraculous Ladybug, Skip Beat!, Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Gaurdian Marinette, Gen, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Salty Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Successful Marinette, Unbeta'd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23373172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnWave/pseuds/DawnWave
Summary: So much for hoping Lila would get better if Marinette took the high road.  Well at least this trip to Japan might give Marinette a much-needed break and who knows she might even make some new friends!
Comments: 13
Kudos: 369





	Fashion Central

Takes place before the Magi Love Kingdom movie for UtaPri and after chapter 280 for Skip Beat.

It should have been an enjoyable three-week school trip to Japan. Three weeks of seeing the sights, learning a bit about the culture and soaking up new experiences in a new country. Except it hadn't been so far. Lila had taken credit for all the tours that had been booked. They’d had to fundraise over €50 000 for it and thanks to Lila, Marinette had had to do most of the work herself. Chloe’s dad had donated a decent chunk of money for the trip but it still took multiple bake sales, car washes, raffles, auctions and even a go fund me page to reach their goal. She had even had to pay for certain tours out her own pocket as Mlle Bustier had insisted those tours be included in their trip. Once it had been met, however, Lila had swooped in and claimed all the credit for it. She had done this so often that Lila’s actions didn’t surprise Marinette anymore, though it still stung.

The flight had gone well and despite all her travels, Lila had made a fuss of how uncomfortable her seat was and had had the whole class in a rush to offer her their travel pillows. They had made snide remarks about the fact that Marinette hadn’t offered her pillow, even though Marinette was using hers and they hadn’t even thought to use theirs. Marinette had simply put her headphones on and played the set of four unreleased Jagged Stone songs as she designed his new album cover. She spent the first 3 hours of the 12.5-hour flight doing the album cover making sure she was happy with it before saving it and sitting back to relax. She changed her playlist to one she had made that included some of the songs from the idol groups Starish, Quartet Night and Heavens. She even included some of Fuwa Sho’s songs simply so that she could recognise them but they weren’t ones she truly enjoyed.

She knew that most of her class hadn’t taken the time to learn Japanese but as soon as she knew where they would be going she had gone to Kagami’s mother and requested her help. She had picked up the language quickly and while she knew she wasn’t fluent and had difficulty reading it she could speak enough of it to ask for directions if she needed them. She would also be able to understand their tour guides even if they didn’t speak French. She was at the point when she didn’t care if her classmates understand what was being said or not. In her opinion, they had chosen the destination, so it was their responsibility to ensure they could understand anything.

Three years ago she would have done just about anything for her class but she no longer cared. They only turned to her when it was convenient for them these days and that wasn’t something she was willing to deal with anymore. She was the new Guardian of the Miraculous and had been ever since Master Fu had been killed by Hawkmoth. Marianne had been with Fu at the time but she hadn’t been able to do anything to help. The only good thing was that Hawkmoth hadn’t been able to get the Miracle Box nor was he able to gain any of the Miraculous’ secrets as they had moved them a week earlier. Fu had even had the forethought to make sure that the real translations of the Grimoire were on a password-protected flash drive and that only fake versions were left on the tablet. As a result, she had been able to cast a spell that would stop Mayura and Hawkmoth being able to use their powers, although it wouldn't stop them from being able to transform. If they did transform though they would fall very ill for three days for each time they transformed while the spell was in effect.

She had the Miracle box in her luggage as she didn’t want her parents to find it if they ever went into her room. She didn’t think they would, but she didn’t want to risk it either, especially since Lila had spread enough of her poison that although her parents still loved her, they weren't as trusting as they used to be. It was currently disguised as a normal jewellery box, but if anyone went into her bag with the intent to steal from her or destroy her things, they would be unable to find it at all. She didn’t trust Lila not to try destroying her things after all.

The first couple of days in Japan had gone well enough. Marinette had managed to get the only individual capsule room as no one wanted to share with her so she had made sure that she locked all her things away whenever she left. She had made sure that any clothes that she had set aside for any special occasions were kept beneath the false bottom of her bag when she packed it. In truth anything she placed any value in or that could be easily destroyed was hidden in compartments within her bags, she had also made sure to include at least two days worth of everyday clothes in the sealed compartments, just in case. It had proven to be a good idea when she had seen a fine powder on the edge of her bag which had proven to be itching powder. So she had had to send all the clothes from the normal part of her bag to be washed. Alix and Kim had been very annoyed when they had seen that their 'prank' hadn't worked.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

On the fourth day, the class was in Japan, she woke up without her alarm. At first, she was happy about this only for Tikki to hold up her phone sadly. It had been hacked overnight and all her alarms had been deleted. As had all her pictures and numbers and any documents she had stored on it, even some of her games! Marinette sighed, grateful that she had taken to keeping everything important written down in a notebook, that was easily overlooked. She was also grateful that she had backed up all her phone data on a cloud server under an alias as she no longer trusted Max. Seeing that it was already 9 am and that her class left for their day trip at 8.30 Marinette decided that she wouldn’t bother to join them. They would soon find that she had made all the reservations in her name and not under the school’s name so they wouldn’t be granted access without her.

Instead, she decided that she would take her sketchbook and go to the park that she had seen on her map. Tikki flew into the messenger bag that Marinette had brought with her instead of a handbag and the two of them left the hotel. Marinette chose to stop at a coffee shop and get something to eat on the way to the park. She wasn’t sure what she wanted so she got a simple bento and a green tea to go and carried on. When she got to the park she noticed a large area of it was surrounded by cameras and decided to avoid it.

The universe had other ideas for her however as no sooner had she settled down and started drawing then there was a huge commotion. She packed everything away and walked over to the girl that was dressed in a blindingly pink overall with orange hair. The girl was sitting on the ground looking very upset about something. Perhaps it was her Ladybug side kicking in, or maybe she just couldn't help herself these days, but Marinette couldn't help but get up to see if she could help. 

“Are you alright?” Marinette asked her, all the while trying to make sure she had the right words and pronunciation.

“I’m alright,” the girl replied sadly, “But the clothes that I was carrying probably aren’t.”

It was then that Marinette looked around and saw all the clothes strewn around them on the grass. She also saw that the girl was on the verge of having a panic attack and made a quick decision. 

“Would you like some help?”

“Yes please!”

Marinette helped the girl pick up the clothes and made sure that there were no grass stains on them. She also checked for any that had rips or tears and made sure they went to one side so that they could be repaired, explaining to her companion why she was doing that and rushing to reassure her that she would help with any repairs needed. Finally, they had all the clothes in two piles and Marinette made sure to get the pile that needed repairs before letting her pink clothed companion lead the way.

“My name is Marinette by the way”

“I'm Mogami Kyoko,” the girl replied, “ You didn't give your surname are you really alright with me using your first name?” Marinette could have kicked herself for forgetting the custom of only using surnames until you were granted the persons permission to use their first name.

“My surname is Dupain-Cheng, so I think it might be easier to just use my first name. Feel free to shorten that to Mari if you like. My friend's mom said that it might be easier to pronounce than my full name.” Marinette babbled with a blush to cover for her mistake. “I'm from France so I tend to forget some things. Feel free to correct my pronunciation as well as I've only just learned how to speak Japanese and I know I still say things wrong on occasion.”

“If that's the case you speak well for a non-native speaker.”

Marinette jumped as a male voice spoke from somewhere on her right. She looked around and couldn't stop herself from blushing. She had been so focused on Kyoko that she hadn't noticed they had reached where they needed to be and that almost everybody was looking at them. She was mortified to realise that almost every single person around them was famous. The one that had spoken was Ren Tsuruga, no Tsuruga Ren she corrected herself mentally. The other men that were standing around her were the members of Starish, Quartet Night and Heavens. 

“I'm sorry if I'm intruding, I saw Mogami-san slip and wanted to help her. I offered to help anything that might have been damaged...” Marinette didn't realise she slipped into French in her flustered state, however, it seemed that he still understood her as he held up a hand with a smile.

“It's quite alright Mlle. Dupain-Cheng,” he said in French a smile on his face. “These things happen. Thank you for helping Mogami-san. You said you could help fix anything that is damaged?”

Marinette looked at him in surprise,

she hadn't known that he would be able to speak French, though it made sense that he could as he is a model along with being an actor.

“I can,” she reassured everyone. “I design in my free time. I hadn't expected to be doing anything today as my class left me behind so I came to the park to relax and do some sketching. If I can help instead that would be great!” She had switched back to Japanese so that everyone could understand her, which everyone seemed to appreciate if she was to judge by the smiles they all wore.

The person in charge of all the outfits walked over at that moment. “If you could help that would be appreciated greatly as we are running short of time as we had a few people call in sick. I'd also like to see some of your designs if I could?”

Marinette handed over her latest sketchbook in answer before asking for some needle and thread and getting to work on all the repairs. She was so focused on what she was doing that she didn't notice the time flying by until someone tapped her on her shoulder.

“Lunchtime!” Kyoko chirped. “It's important not to miss meals. Judging by how focused you were I'd guess you're as bad as Tsuruga-san about remembering to eat though. Please don't tell me that you eat like a bird too?”

“Trust me, I eat way more than a bird ever would,” Marinette said with a laugh. “I've been known to eat enough that people wonder how I stay so small!” Kyoko nodded.

“People wonder the same thing about me. Did you know that your sketchbook has been passed around and almost everyone here has seen it? Even I stole a look and I must say, your designs are amazing!”

Marinette blushed, then thanked her lucky stars that she hadn't put Jagged's newer requests in that book. The downside though was that the was the sketchbook in question was the one she had been sketching in while listening to music from all three idol groups that were currently present and as a result, there were outfits for almost all of them in it. Each of the idols had a different outfit depending on how she pictured them in her mind's eye, yet if you looked at them, each group had a common theme running through it.

For Starish she had gone with a smart-casual vibe, the base colours were Black and gold, yet each idol had a colour as well as certain details that made the outfit unique to them. Quarter Night had an old school formal vibe with the base being a dove grey tone with robins egg blue as accents. This time instead of colour being used to make each outfit unique, she had made sure the cut of each outfit was as unique as the idol wearing it. Heavens had given her more of a challenge as she had wanted to make their outfits look like they had been made from the night sky itself, in an inky blue with silver accents. She had settled for a modern semi-formal look, that was meant to look messy enough to give the illusion of them falling yet still smart enough to be seen in public wearing.

“Thanks, I tend to draw any idea that crosses my mind when I get inspired. Sometimes it's by what I see, sometimes by what I hear and some of the weirder designs that I've drawn come from what I've smelt.” Marinette explained, looking slightly embarrassed.

“Do you always sing while you sew?” Otoya Ittoki asked suddenly.

Marinette froze in embarrassment, her cheeks a shade of red that put her suit to shame.

“I- I what?” She stammered.

“Yes, you were singing as you were fixing all the outfits. I think the song was Set it All Free from the movie Sing,” Ai Mikaze stated rather matter of factually.

“Ugh, I can't believe no one has ever pointed that out to me! Wait don't tell me...” Marinette trailed off as she dived for her bag, completely forgetting that she had an audience, all of whom were chuckling softly by this stage. She was extremely grateful that she had taken the time to re-enter some of the more important numbers under code names, back into her phone before leaving the hotel that morning. She was also grateful for the fact that the person she was about to call was currently in Japan for a working vacation. 

“Got it! Now, where was it? There! Come on, please pick up... Penny! It's Marinette here, I've just had it pointed out to me that I sing while I sow. Please tell me Uncle J has never recorded me as I was repairing any of his things... He has! Oh no! Okay has he shown anyone or... Few! No, I just don't think I have a great voice and... Penny! I can't do that! His reputation would tank and then it would be my fault and... Yeah, I get that but still! That's only when there's no-one else around and it's not likely to make anyone worried for his sanity!... Thanks, Penny... Oh, the Album cover? It's almost done as are the next set of Sunglasses so I'll email the designs to you by Sunday at the latest! All the best Penny and don't let Fang boss you around any more than Uncle J does.” 

Ranmaru Kurosaki's jaw dropped when he heard what the flustered girl was saying. He only knew of one person who had connections to the names Fang and Penny, and that was Jagged Stone the Rock and Roll artist who had inspired him to reach for his dream. That this girl had simply grabbed her phone and been able to call The Jagged Stone's manager stunned him. It was then that the rest of what she had said, thankful that it was still in Japanese, made its way into his mind and he froze.

“Are you Neti? Jagged Stone's designer and adopted niece? The one he always brags about in interviews?” He demanded.

“Yes?” Marinette replied hesitantly. “I don't normally spread that around though as I'm still in school and I don't want people to try to be my friends just because they know I'm a designer. It's bad enough one girl in our class does that already with other celebrities, I don't want to make it worse.”

She sighed fidgeting slightly before adding “To be honest I wanted to wait until after I finished the online courses I've been doing for ESMOD before I became too well known. I pushed myself to graduate from high school early but despite the school board recognising the fact that I've graduated, the headmaster still demands that I stay with my class as though I'm still a student. At least with sitting at the back, I don't have to worry about anyone seeing what I'm working on. The downside is due to my classes animosity towards me, I can't risk bringing anything that could be important to the school. I even have to be careful with what's on my digital devices.” She sighed again then shrugged. “Three more months and I'll be free,” she murmured more to herself than to them but several people still heard her.

“What do you mean? Is there a reason you were alone in the park today and thus that you were able to spend the day helping Mogami-san and the team with repairing all these outfits?” Tsuruga Ren asked?

Marinette flushed as she sighed yet again and felt very embarrassed but knew that she probably wouldn't be able to leave without telling them the whole story. She braced herself to do just that when she suddenly found herself looking up at the sky with a heavy object sitting on her and wiggling happily.

“Fang! Get off of Neti! You know better, what if she had been busy with something and you damaged it?” An amused yet angry voice yelled drawing nearer as each moment passed.

“Hi Fang, mind getting off of me? I need to greet your daddy and Penny, I was also talking to these nice people and that was rude of you to interrupt.” Marinette was fussing over the salt-water croc as she spoke, reassuring him that she wasn't hurt nor was she angry. In response, the croc rolled onto his back, and in the process off of Marinette, begging for belly scratches much as a dog would. She finally looked up and saw Jagged and Penny smiling down at her and the stunned look on everybody else's faces. 

“Why does everybody look so surprised? I had already admitted to knowing Uncle J and Penny so it isn't anything new.” Marinette asked looking bewildered.

It was Camus who answered. “It's one thing to hear that someone knows someone famous and is famous in their own right. It is entirely something else to see for one's self that it's true. Even for Idols like ourselves.”

“Oh! Sorry,” Marinette replied with a soft blush. 

Kyoko suddenly spoke up, “It's so cool to meet someone connected to the entertainment industry that won't be directly in the spotlight! What do you love most about fashion?”

That was all that was needed to draw Marinette out of her embarrassment, though it didn't hurt that Penny had pulled Jagged away by his ear with him protesting loudly the whole way. From the sounds of it he had run off as soon as Fangs mysterious ability to find her where ever she was kicked in and as Jagged had been in the middle of an interview at the time, Penny was less than impressed. Fang simply trotted along behind them happily, content at having received his scratches for the day.

For the rest of the afternoon, the two girls spoke whenever they had a free moment with topics ranging from school to fashion to their childhoods and even to the topic of cooking and baking. Eventually, Kyoko gave in and asked if Marinette would like to join her later that day to trade recipes, which Marinette agreed to. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

They met up that night after Marinette cleared it with Mlle Bustier. Marinette had been sneaky with her wording though and as she had it in writing there was nothing Mlle Bustier or the class could do about it. For the remainder of the trip, Marinette could pretty much do as she pleased, up to and including missing all the scheduled tours. The class would soon find she had booked some of the better ones in her name, not under the school's name and if she wasn't there when they went on them, the tour wouldn't happen. 

Mlle Bustier had not been happy when Marinette had refused to let them use her name to get into the ones booked under it and had even tried

to punish Marinette when she found out that Marinette had emailed with her picture when she booked as a precaution against Lila claiming that she was Marinette. Marinette had looked at her teacher and tartly stated that the only reason she was still there was because of the incompetence of the school staff and the insistence of the headmaster. She had then shown Mlle Bustier the certified copies of her graduation certificates as well as the very agreement the Mlle Bustier had signed when Marinette had asked to be allowed to do her own thing for the rest of the trip. That had killed all arguments coming from her teacher although it hadn't killed the glares that were being sent her way whenever Marinette made an appearance at the hotel.

On the second day of hanging out with Kyoko, Marinette was introduced to the president of LME. Marinette took one look at him and pulled out her sketchbook. Within seconds she had redesigned his outfit and told him that if he was going to wear cos-play outfits as everyday wear he should at least try to make them a little more practical while still keeping his flamboyant style in mind. It took her a few moments before she remembered who she was talking to before she had a small panic attack but he just laughed and asked if he could commission a few outfits from her. She had also received a massive commission for all of the outfits for the Magi Love Kingdom concert. She wasn't too sure about one of the outfit sets but as it's what they had asked for something fun and off the wall so that's what she had designed.

That was how she found herself working in a design studio in the LME building less than a week later. Since she hadn't had access to her normal sewing supplies, Takarada Lory had given her permission to use one of the lesser-used design rooms. As it was already fitted out with dress forms, sewing machines and other much-needed sowing equipment all Marinette had had to supply was her time and the cloth along with any matching thread that she would be using. Currently, she was working on all the designs she had drawn up for Lory so that she could start working on the concert outfits ASAP. She was grateful that she wouldn't have to make the basic shirts for her screen-print set though.

Marinette had been working hard on the outfits until Kyoko had entered the room and dragged her down to a café area within the building to join her for lunch, LME Hearts. On a normal day, this wouldn't be an issue but today was not a normal day. Today her class was booked to do the tour of LME and it was one of the ones booked under the school's name instead of hers.

The two girls had just sat down to lunch chatting animatedly about different styles of clothes and how they influenced how each character was seen on screen depending on what the style was when a screech cut through the air.

“You! What are you doing here? It's bad enough that you've ruined the school trip by getting us banned from certain tours but now you show up without a shred of remorse for basically stealing the money needed for those tours on one of the few we could still go on.”

Marinette turned at the sound of Ayla's diatribe against her and listened in absolute boredom as Ayla laid out her complaints. Just as she took a breath to continue Marinette decided enough was enough.

“I recommend you get your facts straight before you start complaining Césaire.” Marinette's voice was sharp as she spoke. Out the corner of her eye, she saw Kyoko frantically texting someone but Marinette didn't dwell on that.

“The tours that you were unable to take were not paid for out of the money that the class but out of money I had earned from my commissions. The only reason I booked them in the first place was because I felt compelled to. Either way that money has since been refunded to me as I cancelled them due to your actions. You wouldn't have been able to take them as they were booked under my name for the very reason I have just given you aka I PAID FOR THEM! Had one of you not hacked my phone a week ago, you would still be able to take those tours.” 

Marinette's tone as she spoke was fraught with anger and she had crossed her arms across her chest as she spoke. She knew she was probably being slightly cruel but she was past caring. Adrien was frantically trying to get her attention, probably to tell her to calm down and stick to the status quo but Marinette no longer cared. Why should she? The only times Adrien spoke to her these days was to tell her to calm down and to take the high ground. It was as her class started screaming at her again that Marinette noticed the ring on Adrien's finger. A ring she recognised as being Chat Noir's ring from when she had been Lady Noir. 

Marinette cursed softly then muttered the spell that would cause Plagg to bring the ring to her when it was safe for him to do so. If Adrien couldn't support her as a civilian, how could she trust him to support her as Ladybug? Chat Noir hadn't been at three-quarters of the more recent battles anyway. She wished she could use the same spell to bring the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculi to her but the caster had to be able to see the Miraculous and be within a certain distance for it to be effective. She wished that she hadn't figured out that Adrien and Chat Noir were the same person but what's done was done and she had to accept that. 

She knew that Adrien was a good person, just miss guided at times, who had too much faith in people due to his very sheltered upbringing. She also knew that the main reason that he refused to act against Lila was because he had grown up in an environment that had made clear to him that if you ignored the lies and rumours that were spread through magazines, they went away. If only real life was the same.

Marinette realised she was getting distracted so she quickly returned her attention to what was happening in front of her, only to have to stop herself from rolling her eyes. As usual, Lila was making herself out to be the victim saying that Marinette was jealous and that she was lying about having paid for the extra tours herself. Marinette shook her head and turned her attention back to Kyoko to apologise for what was happening, only for Kyoko to explain she had had to deal with something similar due to her childhood friend turned adversary slash pet peeve Fuwa Sho. Marinette was about to say more when she felt movement behind her and started to turn again. 

Her movement was soon halted as she felt something warm and wet trickle down her back. She sighed and said a quick prayer of thanks for the fact that what she was wearing was something that was easy to clean and that she had an extra shirt in her bag.

“Seriously?” half moaned as she turned to face the perpetrator and came face to face with Alix. “How old are you again, five? That was just plain stupid and juvenile as well as being a waste of good coffee! Ugh!” Marinette took her jacket off to check how bad it was and shook her head. “Well, this will need a wash soon but at least it won't stain.”

“Pass it here,” Kyoko piped up. She couldn't understand most of what was being said as she had only just started to learn French but she from what she could see, she knew that the jacket would need to be cleaned as would the shirt. “We have a washing machine and dryer in the building for some of the costumes and in case of accidents. There are also spare clothes that might fit if you need them.”

Marinette gratefully handed her jacket over and was about to start talking to her class again when Jagged walked in, Penny running after him scolding him.

“Neti, I need a break! Sing with me?” He exclaimed then gave her puppy eyes as he asked her to sing with him. 

Marinette nodded then reflexively caught the guitar that was carelessly chucked in her direction. She headed to the small stage in LME Hearts and smirked at him then played the opening riffs of [Do What You Gotta Do (From "Descendants 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrL_b__CHrw)") by Dove Cameron and Cheyenne Jackson. He laughed and nodded, joining in on the keyboard, using it to add in the extra instruments that were needed for the song and started the duet with both of them goofing off completely and acting as though they were the characters in the song. 

They were so busy teasing each other while singing that neither of them noticed her classes stunned looks nor the person that was streaming their little performance. By the end of the song, they had ended up being back to back in a way that practically screamed that they had done the routine before. Jagged then started a new song that was more bass-heavy and Marinette closed her eyes before singing in a clear voice. The song wasn't one anybody in the café recognised though. ([Alright by Tadpole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr5K4ENwAJ0)) The song seemed to have been written especially for the girl that was singing it as fit her a little too well for her classes comfort.

Lila, seeing that the attention was no longer on her, tried to make up another story only to find a rather intimidating man staring down at her. 

“You are Lila Rossi, yes?” He asked in a slightly accented though very firm voice which caught the attention of most of the class as well as Mlle Bustier's attention.

“Yes, I am,” Lila replied in what she thought was a confident tone of voice.

“Good. I am Lory Takrarada. I own this building as well as the agency that is run within it. You have 10minutes to remove yourself before I lay charges against you for assault and deformation.”

“You can't do that!” Mlle Bustier exclaimed.

“Ah but I can” Lory stated with a soft smile. “You see, when I met Marinette a few days ago I thought her name sounded familiar, so I did a little digging. What I found shocked me. Multiple complaints of bullying placed by her against the very class she had travelled here with. Some of those can be traced back to before you joined her class but the majority were placed after you joined. I then found Mlle Césaire's tabloid-style blog and all the tripe that she has posted on it. Since that is a public blog, I sent the links to a number of the people mentioned on it. Each of those people has laid charges against both Mlle Césaire and Mlle Rossi.” Lory's stern expression hadn't changed despite the news he was delivering to them.

“Tabloid! I'll have you know I checked my facts before posting anything!” Alya spluttered indignantly.

“No you didn't, or you wouldn't be in the situation you are now in.”

“You can't lay any charges against us as we are not Japanese citizens,” Lila said confidently.

“I think you'll find he can, Mlle Rossi,” a stern-looking woman said as she walked over. “I am Mogami Saena. I will be representing Mlle Dupain-Cheng along with everyone else you are being charged by. Before you ask, yes, I am qualified to do so as I took the international exams.”

“But, but Maritrash isn't even a proper designer!” Alya chocked out.

Marinette had walked over soon after Lory had approached Lila. “Actually, Césaire, thanks to being left behind when my phone got hacked, I have been able to meet several people. One of those people was Takarada-sama here and when he saw my designs he contacted a good friend of his with copies I had given him. As soon as she saw them, she had a contract sent through to him. I am now a proud designer for Swan Designs under Julie Hizuri nee Swan herself. I'm returning to Paris to finish my education at Esmod but after that, I will be moving here to work with Takarada-sama on various projects.”

“ESMOD! You haven't graduated from my class yet!” Mlle Bustier said in shock.

“I'm only in your class because M. **Damocles** is too lazy to fill in the paperwork that says I've already graduated despite the board of governors and the Department of Education having processed my exams already.” Marinette's voice was dry as she spoke, telling the class exactly what she thought of what she had just said.

“I told you all that the other day, as well as showed you my certificates if you remember. Either way, I'm done. I'm over being treated like something I'm not. I'm tired of being your scapegoat and I'm tired of you telling me to be a good influence on your class when it's not my job." 

Marinette then turned and walked over to where Kyoko was waiting for her. The two girls left together to get Marinette into a clean shirt so that her current one and her jacket could be washed.

Paris six months later:

Marinette looked around her room for the last time. She had finally finished sorting out the paperwork that had been needed to be completed for her to move her main study location from Paris to Tokyo. While the paperwork itself had been completed quickly, she had had to find and beat Hawkmoth before thinking about submitting her request. Finding out that Gabriel Agreste had been Hawkmoth had come as a very nasty surprise for Marinette but she hadn't let it affect her passion for fashion. It had just made her even happier that she had agreed to sign with Swan Designs.

Her class had been very subdued for the rest of the trip to Japan and had become prime bait for Hawkmoth after their return. While Marinette wasn't happy about using her classmates that way, she had done so anyway. She had set a trap to lure Hawkmoth out of his lair and once he was in view she had used the same spell for his Miraculous that she had used for Chat Noir’s. When Nooroo had shown up in her room later that night looking exhausted and on the verge of collapse she had been quick to give him a potion that removed the negative energy from him. By doing this she fixed the damage that Hawkmoth had done to the Miraculous as well as freed Nooroo to be able to reveal who Hawkmoth had been.

This let Marinette figure out who Mayura was and from there it had been simple for her to sneak into the Agreste mansion with Trixx's help. She had quickly stolen everything Miraculous related for the safe and set a virus into the computer network that whipped all of their saved data about the Miraculous. It was while she was doing a final check for anything she might have missed within the mansion that she had found Mrs Agreste. It turned out she was in a coma from using a Broken Miraculous too often. After some quick thinking, Marinette had been able to basically kidnap her and get her to a hospital. Since she hadn't used her powers, she was able to explain to the hospital what needed to be done to heal her. A quick trip home to brew the correct potions and Mrs Agreste was on the road to recovery without anyone being the wiser.

Marinette couldn't wait to get back to Japan and start attending their branch of ESMOD whilst still working for Swan Designs. She knew that the friends she had made during her trip there were true friends and she was eager to see them again. As for the video that had been streamed of Jagged and herself goofing around in LA Hearts, well it had gone viral in next to no time and Jagged's popularity had skyrocketed. Her own had too but she hadn't let it influence her. She still firmly believed that she was a normal girl, who lived a mostly normal life. She just had a touch more luck than most people! 

The lawsuits that Lila and Alya were facing had made Lila's mother ship her back to Italy to start attending a reform school there to make up for all the school she had missed in France. Signora Rossi had not been happy when she had found out what Lila had done and had supported the people who were suing her daughter. Lila would spend her life paying all the fines that her lies had racked up.

Alya had been devastated when, upon arrival back home, her parents had made her take down her blog and leave a message on its old domain with an explanation of what had happened. They had proofread it to make sure that Alya hadn't lied or tried to shift the blame before allowing her to post it. Much like Lila, Alya would have to spend a long time working to pay off the fines she had.

As for Adrien and the rest of Marinette's old class, they had had to deal with numerous counselling sessions about toxic people and relationships. Adrien had eventually decided to become a scientist instead of following his father's career choice for him. He had been depressed when he had realised that his ring was gone but it was that loss that had made him see what was happening to himself and others around him.


End file.
